Device access control system

ABSTRACT

A device access control system includes a first computing system that is coupled to a second computing system via a network, and that includes a device access controller subsystem coupled to devices, a central processing subsystem, and a device access control manager subsystem. The device access control manager subsystem identifies first application(s) configured for provisioning by the central processing subsystem and second application(s) configured for provisioning by the second computing system, configures the device access controller subsystem to provide the central processing subsystem access to a first subset of the devices to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the first application(s), and configures the device access controller subsystem to provide the second computing system access via the device access control manager subsystem to a second subset of the devices to allow the second computing device to provide the second application(s) using the second subset of the devices.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to information handlingsystems, and more particularly controlling access to devices in aninformation handling system.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use such as financialtransaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage,or global communications. In addition, information handling systems mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

Information handling systems such as, for example, servers and/or othercomputing systems known in the art, may include devices and/or otherserver hardware that is configurable for use locally (e.g., by a centralprocessing subsystem in that server) or remotely (e.g., by a centralprocessing system in another server via a network) in order to provideapplications, workloads, and/or other services known in the art. Forexample, conventional composable systems may allow a networkadministrator or other user to select a server with devices and/or otherserver hardware that best “matches” the requirements of theapplications, workloads, and/or other services that are going to beprovided, and then configure that server and its devices/server hardwareto provide the applications, workloads, and/or other services. However,conventional composable systems operate to dedicate any particularserver and its devices/server hardware to the applications, workloads,and/or other services that are being provided by that server, which canraise some issues.

For example, conventional composable systems may provide applications,workloads, and/or other services on a server that includesdevices/server hardware that is not capable of providing optimaloperations for the applications, workloads, and/or other services, ormay provide those applications, workloads, and/or other services on aserver that includes devices/server hardware that is overly capable ofproviding optimal operations for the applications, workloads, and/orother services. As such, conventional composable systems may providesub-optimal operations for applications, workloads, and/or otherservices, or may provide for inefficient use of the devices/serverhardware in the server providing those applications, workloads, and/orother services (i.e., devices in the conventional composable system thatare not used by a local CPU may “go to waste”). Furthermore,application(s) provided on a conventional composable system may be“confused” by devices that are included in that composable system butthat the application was not expecting to have access to, which inconventional composable results in that composable system not beingconfigured to provide that application. Further still, in “as-a-service”environments, application(s) provided on a conventional composablesystem may have access to devices that are included in that composablesystem but that the user of that application has not paid to utilized.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a composable system thataddresses the issues discussed above.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, an Information Handling System (HIS) mayinclude a secondary processing subsystem; and a secondary memorysubsystem that is coupled to the secondary processing subsystem and thatincludes instructions that, when executed by the secondary processingsubsystem, cause the secondary processing subsystem to provide a deviceaccess control manager engine that is configured to: identify at leastone first application that is configured to be provided by a centralprocessing subsystem that is included in a first computing system withthe IHS, and at least one second application that is configured to beprovided by a second computing system that is coupled to the firstcomputing system via a network; configure a device access controllersubsystem in the first computing system to provide the centralprocessing subsystem access to a first subset of a plurality of firstdevices in the first computing system in order to allow the centralprocessing subsystem to provide the at least one first application;configure the device access controller subsystem to provide the secondcomputing system access via the device access control manager subsystemto a second subset of the plurality of first devices; and transmitsecond application control communications received from the secondcomputing system to the second subset of the plurality of first devicesvia the device access controller subsystem in order to allow the secondcomputing device to provide the at least one second application usingthe second subset of the plurality of first devices via the deviceaccess controller subsystem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an InformationHandling System (IHS).

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computingsystem that may be included in the networked system of FIG. 2 and thatmay utilize the device access control functionality of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a SystemControl Processor (SCP) subsystem and/or Baseboard Management Controller(BMC) subsystem that may be included in the computing system of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding device access control.

FIG. 6A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6C is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6D is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6E is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the SCPsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6F is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the SCPsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the SCPsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7C is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7D is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7E is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7F is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the SCPsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7G is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7H is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the BMCsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8C is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8D is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8E is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8F is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the BMCsubsystem of FIG. 4 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8G is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8H is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 10A is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the networkedsystem of FIG. 2 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 10B is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the computingsystem of FIG. 3 operating during the method of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system mayinclude any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operableto compute, calculate, determine, classify, process, transmit, receive,retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, communicate, manifest,detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information,intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or otherpurposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personalcomputer (e.g., desktop or laptop), tablet computer, mobile device(e.g., personal digital assistant (PDA) or smart phone), server (e.g.,blade server or rack server), a network storage device, or any othersuitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality,and price. The information handling system may include random accessmemory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/orother types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of theinformation handling system may include one or more storage devices(e.g., disk drives such as Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), Solid State Drives(SSDs), and/or other storage devices known in the art), one or morenetwork ports for communicating with external devices as well as variousinput and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, atouchscreen and/or a video display, large SSDs, Graphics ProcessingUnits (GPUs), Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Field Programmable GateArrays (FPGAs), and/or other I/O devices known in the art. Theinformation handling system may also include one or more buses operableto transmit communications between the various hardware components.

In one embodiment, IHS 100, FIG. 1, includes a processor 102, which isconnected to a bus 104. Bus 104 serves as a connection between processor102 and other components of IHS 100. An input device 106 is coupled toprocessor 102 to provide input to processor 102. Examples of inputdevices may include keyboards, touchscreens, pointing devices such asmouses, trackballs, and trackpads, and/or a variety of other inputdevices known in the art. Programs and data are stored on a mass storagedevice 108, which is coupled to processor 102. Examples of mass storagedevices may include hard discs, optical disks, magneto-optical discs,solid-state storage devices, and/or a variety of other mass storagedevices known in the art. IHS 100 further includes a display 110, whichis coupled to processor 102 by a video controller 112. A system memory114 is coupled to processor 102 to provide the processor with faststorage to facilitate execution of computer programs by processor 102.Examples of system memory may include random access memory (RAM) devicessuch as dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), solid state memorydevices, and/or a variety of other memory devices known in the art. Inan embodiment, a chassis 116 houses some or all of the components of IHS100. It should be understood that other buses and intermediate circuitscan be deployed between the components described above and processor 102to facilitate interconnection between the components and the processor102.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of a networked system 200 isillustrated in which the device access control system of the presentdisclosure may be utilized. In the illustrated embodiment, the networkedsystem 200 includes a plurality of computing systems 202 a, 202 b, andup to 202 c. In an embodiment, the computing system 202 a-202 c may beprovided by the IHS 100 discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, and/ormay include some or all of the components of the IHS 100, and inspecific examples may be provided by server devices. However, whilediscussed as being provided by server devices, one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize that computingsystems provided in the networked system 200 may include any computingsystems that may be configured to operate similarly as the computingsystems 202 a-202 c discussed below. In the illustrated embodiment, eachof the computing systems may be coupled to a network 204 that may beprovided by a Local Area Network (LAN), the Internet, combinationsthereof, and/or any other networks that would be apparent to one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. In someexamples, the network 204 may include a first network for managementdata traffic and a second network for other data traffic, while in otherexamples, the network 204 may provide for both the management datatraffic and other data traffic.

In the illustrated embodiment, a management system 206 is also coupledto the network 204. In an embodiment, the management system 206 may beprovided by the IHS 100 discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, and/ormay include some or all of the components of the IHS 100, and inspecific examples may be provided by one or more management serverdevices that may be configured to perform management functionality forthe computing systems 202 a-202 c. In the illustrated embodiment, one ormore network-attached devices 208 are also coupled to the network 204.In an embodiment, the network-attached device(s) 208 may be provided bya variety of different network-attached devices that are accessible tothe computing systems 202 a-202 c via the network 204, and in specificexamples below are discussed as being provided by one or moreNon-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) storage devices that may beconfigured to provide a network-attached storage system for any or allof the computing systems 202 a-202 c. However, while a specificnetworked system 200 has been illustrated and described, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that thedevice access control system of the present disclosure may be utilizedwith a variety of components and component configurations, and/or may beprovided in a variety of computing system/network configurations, whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a computing system 300 isillustrated that may provide any or all of the computing systems 202a-202 c discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. As such, the computingsystem 300 may be provided by the IHS 100 discussed above with referenceto FIG. 1 and/or may include some or all of the components of the IHS100, and in specific examples may be provided by a server device.However, while illustrated and discussed as being provided by a serverdevice, one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosurewill recognize that the functionality of the computing system 300discussed below may be provided by other computing systems that areconfigured to operate similarly as the computing system 300 discussedbelow. In the illustrated embodiment, the computing system 300 includesa chassis 302 that houses the components of the computing system 300,only some of which are illustrated and discussed below.

For example, the chassis 302 may house a device access control managersubsystem that, in the embodiments illustrated and discussed below, maybe provided by a System Control Processor (SCP) subsystem 304 and/or aBaseboard Management Controller (BMC) subsystem 306 that are providedaccording to the teachings of the present disclosure to perform thedevice access control manager functionality that is discussed in furtherdetail below. In one specific example discussed below, the device accesscontrol manager subsystem may be provided by the BMC subsystem 306(e.g., with the SCP subsystem 304 omitted) that operates to providelocal device access management. In another specific example discussedbelow, the device access control manager subsystem may be provided byboth the SCP subsystem 304 and the BMC subsystem 306, with the SCPsubsystem 304 providing a single device management entry point for itscomputing system 300, and communicating with the BMC subsystem 306 toprovide for local device access management. In yet another specificexample, discussed below, the device access control manager subsystemmay be provided by both the SCP subsystem 304 and the BMC subsystem 306,with the SCP subsystem 304 providing for both local and remote deviceaccess management. However, while several specific examples aredescribed, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will appreciate that the functionality described below may beprovided in other manners (e.g., by a combined SCP/BMC subsystem) whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

In some examples, the SCP subsystem 304 may be conceptualized as an“enhanced” SmartNIC device that may be configured to performfunctionality that is not available in conventional SmartNIC devicessuch as, for example, the platform root-of-trust functionality describedby the inventors of the present disclosure in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/027,835, attorney docket no. 16356.2212US01, filed on Sep.22, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. However, while the device access control manager subsystemthat enables the expanded availability functionality according to theteachings of the present disclosure is illustrated and described as anenhanced SmartNIC device provided by an SCP subsystem, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will appreciated thatthe device access control functionality described herein may be enabledon otherwise conventional SmartNIC devices, or via NIC devices (alongwith other components that enable the expanded availabilityfunctionality discussed below) while remaining within the scope of thepresent disclosure as well.

In an embodiment, the SCP subsystem 304 may be provided by the IHS 100discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 and/or may include some or allof the components of the IHS 100. In specific examples, the SCPsubsystem 304 may be provided as an SCP card that is configured toconnect to a slot on a motherboard in the chassis 302. In otherexamples, the SCP subsystem 304 may be integrated into a motherboard inthe chassis 302. In yet other examples the SCP subsystem 304 may be aseparate/co-motherboard circuit board that is connected to a motherboardin the chassis 302 (e.g., a two-part motherboard having a first portionthat enables conventional motherboard functionality, and a secondportion that enables the SCP functionality discussed below). However,while a few specific examples are provided, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will appreciate that the SCPsubsystem 304 may be provided in the computing system 300 in a varietyof manners that will fall within the scope of the preset disclosure.

In an embodiment, the chassis 302 may also house the BaseboardManagement Controller (BMC) subsystem 306 that is coupled to the SCPsubsystem 304, and which one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize as being configured to manage aninterface between system management software in the computing system 300and hardware in the computing system 300, as well as perform other BMCoperations that would be apparent to one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure. As such, the BMC subsystem 310 maybe configured to utilize a dedicated management network connection(e.g., illustrated by the dashed line in FIG. 3), or may be configuredto utilize a network connection included in the SCP subsystem 304 (e.g.,via a Network Communications Services Interface (NCSI) that allows theuse of a NIC port on a NIC device in the SCP subsystem 304).

The chassis 302 may also house a device access controller subsystem 308that is coupled to the SCP subsystem 304 and the BMC subsystem 306. Inthe embodiments illustrated and discussed below, the device accesscontroller subsystem 308 is provided by a fabric switch device. However,in other specific examples, the device access controller subsystem 308may be provided by a Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe)switch device, a Compute Express Link (CxL) switch device, a Gen-Zswitch device, and/or other switch devices, and/or may includecomponents such as protocol bridges and/or other combinations of elementbetween a processing system and the devices which support the deviceaccess control capabilities of the present disclosure. As such, thedevice access controller subsystem 308 may be provided by the IHS 100discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 and/or may include some or allof the components of the IHS 100 that are configured to perform theswitching functionality and/or application control communicationtransmission discussed in further detail below.

The chassis 302 may also house a central processing system 310 that iscoupled to the SCP subsystem 304 via the device access controllersubsystem 306, coupled directly to the BMC subsystem 306, and which mayinclude the processor 102 discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) such as a x86 host processor, and/or by avariety of other processing components that would be apparent to one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.

The chassis 302 may also house (or provide a coupling for) one or moreInput/Output (I/O) devices 312 that are coupled to the SCP subsystem304, the central processing system 310, and the BMC subsystem 306 viathe device access controller subsystem 308. As such, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that the I/Odevice(s) 312 may be housed in the chassis 302 and connected to aninternal connector (e.g., on a motherboard in the chassis 302) that iscoupled to the device access controller subsystem 308, or may beprovided external to the chassis 302 and connected to an externalconnector (e.g., on an outer surface the chassis 302) that is coupled tothe device access controller subsystem 308. As illustrated in FIG. 3,the I/O device(s) 312 may include one or more Peripheral ComponentInterconnect express (PCIe) devices 312 a (as the I/O device(s) 312 orin addition to other I/O device(s)). For example, the PCIe device(s) 312a may include NVMe storage devices that are house in the chassis 302(i.e., and connected to an internal connector on a motherboard in thechassis 302), or that are external to the chassis 302 (i.e., andconnected to an external connector on an outer surface of the chassis302). However, while particular I/O devices and/or PCI devices have beendescribed, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that a variety of other I/O devices (e.g., aSAS controller) will fall within the scope of the present disclosure aswell. The chassis 302 may also house one or more components 314 that arecoupled to the central processing system 310 and the BMC subsystem 306.

The chassis 302 may also house one or more other devices 316 that arecoupled to the SCP subsystem 304, the central processing system 310, andthe BMC subsystem 306 via the device access controller subsystem 308,and the other device(s) 316 may include any devices utilized in theperformance of applications such as, for example, GPUs, TPUs, FPGAs,and/or other devices known in the art. However, while a specificcomputing system 300 has been illustrated, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that computingsystems (or other devices operating according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure in a manner similar to that described below for thecomputing system 300) may include a variety of components and/orcomponent configurations for providing conventional computing systemfunctionality, as well as the functionality discussed below, whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well. Forexample, in some embodiments, the BMC subsystem 306 described above withreference to FIG. 3 may be omitted, and the SCP subsystem 304 may beconfigured to provide a BMC subsystem that performs the functionality ofthe BMC subsystem 306 in FIG. 3.

With reference to FIG. 4, an embodiment of an SCP/BMC subsystem 400 isillustrated that may provide the SCP subsystem 304 and/or the BMCsubsystem 310 discussed above with reference to FIG. 3. As such, theSCP/BMC subsystem 400 may be provided by the IHS 100 discussed abovewith reference to FIG. 1 and/or may include some or all of thecomponents of the IHS 100, and in specific examples may be provided asan SCP card, may be integrated into a motherboard, or may be provided asa separate/co-motherboard circuit board, and/or may be provided by a BMCdevice. However, while illustrated and discussed as being provided indifferent manners in a computing system 300, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that thefunctionality of the SCP/BMC subsystem 400 discussed below may beprovided by other devices that are configured to operate similarly asthe SCP/BMC subsystem 400 discussed below (e.g., other networkingsubsystems such as the SmartNIC device or the NIC device discussedabove, etc.).

In the illustrated embodiment, the SCP/BMC subsystem 400 includes achassis 402 (e.g., a circuit board) that supports the components of theSCP/BMC subsystem 400, only some of which are illustrated below. Forexample, the chassis 402 may support a secondary processing subsystem(which may be distinguished from the central processing subsystem 306310 in the computing system 300 discussed herein) such as anetworking/management processing subsystem (e.g., an SCP/BMC processingsubsystem) including one or more networking/management processors (notillustrated, but which may include the processor 102 discussed abovewith reference to FIG. 1), and a secondary memory subsystem such as anetworking/management memory subsystem (e.g., an SCP/BMC memorysubsystem, not illustrated, but which may include the memory 114discussed above with reference to FIG. 1) that is coupled to thesecondary processing system and that includes instructions that, whenexecuted by the secondary processing system, cause the secondaryprocessing system to provide a device access control manager engine 404that is configured to perform the functionality of the device accesscontrol manager engines and/or SCP/BMC subsystems discussed below.

The chassis 402 may also include a storage system (not illustrated, butwhich may include the storage 108 discussed above with reference to FIG.1, the networking/management memory system discussed above, etc.) thatis coupled to the device access control manager engine 404 (e.g., via acoupling between the storage system and the secondary processingsubsystem) and that may include one or more device access controlmanager databases 406 that are configured to store any of theinformation utilized by the device access control manager engine 404discussed below. The chassis 402 may also support a communication system408 that is coupled to the device access control manager engine 404(e.g., via a coupling between the communication system 408 and thesecondary processing subsystem) and that may include the NetworkInterface Controller (NIC) device 408 a illustrated in FIG. 4 that mayconnect the SCP/BMC subsystem 304/310/400 to the network 204, thecomponent connections 408 illustrated in FIG. 4 that may connect theSCP/BMC subsystem 304/310/400 to components in the computing system 300,wireless communication systems (e.g., BLUETOOTH®, Near FieldCommunication (NFC) components, WiFi components, etc.), and/or any othercommunication components that would be apparent to one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure.

As such, the communication system 408 may include any of the connectionsdiscussed below between the SCP/BMC subsystem 400 and the network 204,the SCP subsystem 304, the central processing subsystem 310, the BMCsubsystem 310, the I/O device(s) 312, the other devices 316, and/or anyother components utilized with the computing system 202 a/300. However,while a specific SCP/BMC subsystem 400 has been illustrated anddescribed, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that SCP/BMC subsystems (or othernetworking/management subsystems operating according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure in a manner similar to that described below forthe SCP/BMC subsystem 400) may include a variety of components and/orcomponent configurations for providing the functionality discussed belowwhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment of a method 500 for providingdevice access control is illustrated. As discussed below, the systemsand methods of the present disclosure provide for the dynamicconfiguration of device access within a computing system in order to,for example, provide local access for a central processing subsystem inthat computing system to those devices, as well as remote access forcentral processing system(s) in other computing system(s) to thosedevices. For example, the device access control system of the presentdisclosure may include a first computing system that is coupled to asecond computing system via a network, and that includes a device accesscontroller subsystem coupled to devices, a central processing subsystem,and a device access control manager subsystem. The device access controlmanager subsystem identifies first application(s) configured forprovisioning by the central processing subsystem and secondapplication(s) configured for provisioning by the second computingsystem, configures the device access controller subsystem to provide thecentral processing subsystem access to a first subset of the devices toallow the central processing subsystem to provide the firstapplication(s), and configures the device access controller subsystem toprovide the second computing system access via the device access controlmanager subsystem to a second subset of the devices to allow the secondcomputing device to provide the second application(s) using the secondsubset of the devices. Thus, devices in a computing system may beconfigured for the local and remote use in a manner that provide a moreefficient use of those devices and/or more optimal provisioning ofapplications than conventional composable systems.

The method 500 begins at decision block 502 where it is determinedwhether one or more first applications have been identified forprovisioning by a first computing system. In the specific examplesprovided below, components and/or devices in the computing system 202a/300 are configured for local and remote use in providing applications.However, one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosurewill recognize that the techniques described below may be utilized toprovide only local use of devices, or only remote use of devices, andmay operate similarly to provide for local and/or remote use of devicesin the computing systems 202 b and up to 202 c while remaining withinthe scope of the present disclosure as well. In an embodiment, atdecision block 502, the device access control manager engine 404 ineither or both of the SCP subsystem 304/400 and/or BMC subsystem 306/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may operate to determine whetherapplication(s) have been identified for provisioning by the computingsystem 202 a/300. For example, at decision block 502, the device accesscontrol manager engine 404 in either or both of the SCP subsystem304/400 and/or BMC subsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300may operate to determine whether the management system 206 hasidentified application(s) for provisioning by the computing system 202a/300, although one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that application(s) for provisioning by acomputing system may be identified in a variety of manners that willfall within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

In some examples, the identification of application(s) for provisioningby the computing system 202 a/300 at block 502 may be performed prior toor during a computing system initialization process (e.g., a bootprocess) for the computing system 202 a/300 so that the method 500 isperformed prior to or as part of that boot process to provide thecentral processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300access to the devices in the computing system 202 a/300. However, inother examples, the identification of application(s) for provisioning bythe computing system 202 a/300 at block 502 may be performed duringruntime of the computing system 202 a/300 so that the method 500 isperformed during runtime for the computing system 202 a/300 to providethe central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300access to the devices in the computing system 202 a/300. Furthermore,one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate that the techniques described herein may be performed in avariety of scenarios to control the access to devices in the computingsystem 202 a/300 while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well. If, at decision block 502, it is determined that oneor more first applications have not been identified for provisioning bythe first computing system, the method 500 returns to decision block502. As such, the method 500 may loop such that the device accesscontrol manager engine 404 in either or both of the SCP subsystem304/400 and/or BMC subsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300monitors for the identification of application(s) for provisioning bythe computing system 202 a/300.

If, at decision block 502, it is determined that one or more firstapplications have been identified for provisioning by the firstcomputing system, the method 500 proceeds to block 504 where a deviceaccess control manager subsystem configures the first computing systemto provide a central processing subsystem in the first computing systemaccess to one or more devices in the first computing system. Withreference to FIG. 6A, in an embodiment of decision block 502, themanagement system 206 may perform application provisioning instructionoperations 600 that include generating and transmitting applicationprovisioning instructions via the network 204 to the computing system202 a, with those application provisioning instructions identifyingapplications that will be provisioned using devices in the computingsystem 202 a/300. In the examples below, the application provisioninginstructions provided at decision block 502 identify firstapplication(s) for provisioning by the central processing subsystem 310in the computing system 202 a/300 using devices in the computing system202 a/300. However, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will appreciate that applications may be provisioned by avariety of systems and subsystems using devices in a computing system,and thus the application provisioning instructions may instruct theprovisioning of applications by those systems and subsystems whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

With reference to FIG. 6B, in some embodiments of decision block 502,the SCP subsystem 304 in the computing system 202 a/300 may receive theapplication provisioning instructions as part of the applicationprovisioning instruction operations 600. With reference to FIG. 6C, inother embodiments of decision block 502, the BMC subsystem 306 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may receive the applications provisioninginstructions as part of the application provisioning instructionoperations 600. Thus, with reference to FIG. 6E, at decision 502 thedevice access control manager engine 404 in the SCP subsystem 304/400 orBMC subsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may receive theapplication provisioning instructions as part of the applicationprovisioning instruction operations 600 via the NIC device 408 a in thecommunication system 408 a and, in response, identify the application(s)for provisioning using devices in the computing system 202 a/300.

With reference to FIG. 6D, in yet other embodiments of decision block502, the BMC subsystem 306 in the computing system 202 a/300 may receivethe application provisioning instructions as part of the applicationprovisioning instruction operations 600, and may perform applicationprovisioning instruction forwarding operations 602 to forward thoseapplication provisioning instructions to the SCP subsystem 304 in thecomputing system 202 a/300. Thus, at decision 502, the device accesscontrol manager engine 404 in the BMC subsystem 306/400 in the computingsystem 202 a/300 may receive the application provisioning instructionsas part of the application provisioning instruction operations 600 viathe NIC device 408 a in the communication system 408 a (as illustratedin FIG. 6E) and then forward those application provisioning instructionsvia the component connections 408 b in the communication system 408 aspart of the application provisioning instruction forwarding operations602, while the device access control manager engine 404 in the SCPsubsystem 304/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may receive theapplication provisioning instructions as part of the applicationprovisioning instruction forwarding operations 602 via the componentconnections 408 b in the communication system 408 and identify theapplication(s) for provisioning using devices in the computing system202 a/300.

As discussed above, in the specific examples provided herein, theapplication provisioning instructions received at decision block 502identify first application(s) for provisioning by the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 using devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300. Thus, the application provisioninginstructions may include any identifying information associated with thefirst application(s) that will be provisioned using devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300, any identifying information about thecentral processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 thatwill provide the first application(s), any information about devicesthat will be needed to provide the first application(s) (e.g., anoptimal subset of devices included in and/or external to the computingsystem 202 a/300 for use in providing the first application(s)), and/orany other information that one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure would recognize as allowing for the device accesscontrol configurations discussed in further detail below.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure, the application provisioning instructions may alsoinclude any information that identifies which of devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300 should be configured for local access, whichof devices in the computing system 202 a/300 should be configured forremote access, which of devices in the computing system 202 a/300 shouldbe configured to prevent access (e.g., in an as-a-service environment inwhich access to those devices has not been paid for), and/or any otherapplication/device configuration information that would be apparent toone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.Furthermore, in some specific examples, application provisioninginstructions may identify a number of CPU cores that should be utilized,an amount of memory that should be utilized, networks that should beutilized, and/or any other application provisioning information thatwould be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure. While the discussion below focuses on a computingsystem in which some of its devices are configured for local access andsome of its devices are configured for remote access, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will apricate that acomputing system may have its devices configured for local access onlyor remote access only while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well. Furthermore, in either situation thedevice-access-prevention discussed above may be utilized to preventapplication provisioning with particular device(s) (e.g., a computingsystem may have some devices configured for local access and otherdevices configured for no access with regard to the provisioning of anyapplication).

Thus, in some embodiments of block 504, the SCP subsystem 304/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may operate to configure the computing system202 a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 access to one or more devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300. For example, with reference to FIG. 7A, atblock 504 the device access control manager engine 404 in the SCPsubsystem 304/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may perform “local”device access configuration operations 700 that may include generatingand transmitting device access configuration communications via thecomponent connections 408 a in the communication system 408. As will beappreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure, the device access control manager engine 404 in the SCPsubsystem 304/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may perform avariety of “local” access configuration operations to configure thecomputing system 202 a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem310 in the computing system 202 a/300 access to one or more devices inthe computing system 202 a/300 (e.g., devices that have been identifiedfor providing the first application(s)), a few specific examples ofwhich are illustrated and discussed below.

For example, with reference to FIG. 7B, the SCP subsystem 304/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device access configurationcommunications to the device access controller subsystem 308 as part ofthe local device access configuration operations 700, and those deviceaccess configuration communications may identify configurationinformation for communication technologies such a fabric switches (e.g.,PCIe configuration information for PCIe switches) via a PCIe bus, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB), a System Management Bus (SMBUS), anInter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a serial port, an Ethernet port,and/or other communication techniques known in the art. Furthermore, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate that device access configuration communications may includeother commands, instructions, or other communications to configure afabric switch device or other device access controller subsystem toprovide the central processing subsystem access to the I/O device(s)312, PCIe device(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, and/or network-attacheddevice(s) 208 (i.e., via the SCP subsystem 304) that will be utilized bythe central processing subsystem 310 in providing the firstapplication(s) identified at decision block 502.

In another example, with reference to FIG. 7C, the SCP subsystem 304/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the central processing subsystem 310 viathe device access controller subsystem 308 as part of the device accessconfiguration operations 700, and those device access configurationcommunications may include Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)configuration communications (e.g., by enabling/disabling BIOSconfiguration settings that control device access via direct writes to aBIOS configuration memory subsystem), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuring acentral processing subsystem for accessing the I/O device(s) 312, PCIedevice(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, and/or network-attached device(s)208 (i.e., via the SCP subsystem 304) that will be utilized by thecentral processing subsystem 310 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. As such, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that BIOSconfigurations may be performed during boot operations for the computingsystem 202 a/300 to enable access by the central processing subsystem310 to one or more devices in the computing system 202 a/300 for use inproviding the first application(s) and, in some examples, the BIOSconfigurations may be performed to prevent access by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 to those devices in the computing system 202a/300 (i.e., when those devices are not needed in providing the firstapplication(s))

In another example, with reference to FIG. 7D, the SCP subsystem 304/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s)312 a, other device(s) 316 via the device access controller subsystem308 as part of the device access configuration operations 700, and thosedevice access configuration communications may include deviceconfiguration communications (e.g., Self-Encrypting Drive (SED)lock/unlock communications to prevent/allow access to a storage device),and/or any other commands, instructions, or other communications thatone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure wouldrecognize as configuring a device to allow access by the centralprocessing subsystem to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a,and/or other device(s) 316 that will be utilized by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. As will be appreciated by one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure, while the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 is described as being used to transmitthe device access configuration communications to the I/O device(s) 312,PCIe device(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, other communication paths(e.g., SMBUS, 120, etc.) may be utilized to do so while remaining withinthe scope of the present disclosure as well. As such, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize thatdevice configurations may be performed to unlock devices and enableaccess by the central processing subsystem 310 to those devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300 for use in providing the first application(s)and, in some examples, device configurations may be performed to lockdevices and disable access by the central processing subsystem 310 tothose devices in the computing system 202 a/300 (i.e., when thosedevices are not needed in providing the first application(s)).

In another example, with reference to FIG. 7E, the SCP subsystem 304/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the component(s) 314 via the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 as part of the device accessconfiguration operations 700, and those device access configurationcommunications may include component configuration communications (e.g.,Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) lock or unlock communicates to allow ordisable access to a storage device), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuring adevice to allow access by the central processing subsystem to thecomponent(s) 314 that will be utilized by the central processingsubsystem 310 in providing the first application(s) identified atdecision block 502.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure, the device access configuration operations 700between the device access controller subsystem 308 and the component(s)314 may be performed without the central processing subsystem 310running or otherwise participating in the transmission, and thus mayutilize the SMBUS communication channels, I2C communication channels,and/or other signaling paths that are available between the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 and the component(s) 314. As such, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that component configurations may be performed to unlockcomponents and enable access by the central processing subsystem 310 tothose components in the computing system 202 a/300 for use in providingthe first application(s) and, in some examples, component configurationsmay be performed to lock components and disable access by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 to those components in the computing system 202a/300 (i.e., when those components are not needed in providing the firstapplication(s)).

However, while several specific “local” device access configurationoperations 700 have been described to configure the computing system 202a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem 310 in the computingsystem 202 a/300 access to one or more devices in the computing system202 a/300, other local device access configuration operations will fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure as well. For example, the SCPsubsystem 304/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit thedevice access configuration communications to a power subsystem (notillustrated) in the computing system 202 a/300 as part of the deviceaccess configuration operations 700, and those device accessconfiguration communications may include power configurationcommunications (e.g., power control configurations to enable power todevices in the computing system 202 a/300), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuringpower to a device to allow access by the central processing subsystem tothe I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a, component(s) 314, and/orother device(s) 316 that will be utilized by the central processingsubsystem 310 in providing the first application(s) identified atdecision block 502.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure, some computing systems may include separate powercontrols for individual device/components slots in that computing system(e.g., power control circuitry in a motherboard), and those separatepower controls may be utilized to power/prevent power to anydevice/component in the computing system. Furthermore, so storagedevices (e.g., SATA storage devices, SAS storage devices, NVMe storagedevices, etc.) may include “power disable” controls (e.g., power disablepins on their connectors) that may be utilized to power/prevent power toany device/component in the computing system. As such, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize thatpower configurations may be performed to enable power tocomponents/devices and thus enable access by the central processingsubsystem 310 to those components/devices in the computing system 202a/300 for use in providing the first application(s) and, in someexamples, power configurations may be performed to disable power tocomponents/devices and thus disable access by the central processingsubsystem 310 to those components/devices in the computing system 202a/300 (i.e., when those components/devices are not needed in providingthe first application(s)).

In some embodiments, with reference to FIG. 7F, at block 504 the deviceaccess control manager engine 404 in the SCP subsystem 304/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may perform “remote” device accessconfiguration operations 702 that may include generating andtransmitting device access configuration communications via the NICdevice 408 a in the communication system 408. As will be appreciated byone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure, thedevice access control manager engine 404 in the SCP subsystem 304/400 inthe computing system 202 a/300 may perform a variety of accessconfiguration operations to configure access for the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to one or more devicesvia the network 204, a few specific examples of which are illustratedand discussed below.

For example, with reference to FIG. 7G, the SCP subsystem 304/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device access configurationcommunications via the network 204 and to the computing system 202 b aspart of the remote device access configuration operations 702, and thosedevice access configuration communications may include any of the deviceaccess configuration communications discussed above as being transmittedas part of the remote device access configuration operations 700, whichone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate may be utilized by the SCP subsystem 304 and/or the BMCsubsystem 306 in the computing system 202 b in order to allow access bythe central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300to components/devices in the computing system 202 b that will beutilized by the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system202 a/300 in providing the first application(s) identified at decisionblock 502. However, in other embodiments, the management system 206 maycommunicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400 in the computing system 202 bto configure allow remote access to its device(s) for the computingsystem 202 a, and may then communicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400 inthe computing system 202 a to configure it to remotely access thosedevice(s) on the computing system 202 b. As such, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will appreciate that thedevice access configurations may be performed in a variety of mannersthat will fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Thus, the SCP subsystem 304 in the computing systems 202 a/300 and theSCP/BMC subsystem 400 in the computing system 202 b/300 may communicateto enable access for the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 to the devices in the computing system 202 bvia the SCP/BMC subsystem 400 and the device access control subsystem308 in the computing system 202 b/300. The inventors of the presentdisclosure describe the use of such inter-computing system device accessconfiguration techniques to provide expanded availability computingsystems in U.S. patent application No. ______, attorney docket no.16356.2218US01, filed on ______, the disclosure of which is incorporateby reference herein in its entirety. Furthermore, while not explicitlyillustrated or described, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will appreciate that access by the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to devices in thecomputing system 202 c may be allowed in a similar manner as describedabove for the computing system 202 b while remaining within the scope ofthe present disclosure as well.

In another example, with reference to FIG. 7H, the SCP subsystem 304/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications via the network 204 and to thenetwork-attached device(s) 208 as part of the remote device accessconfiguration operations 702, and those device access configurationcommunications may include any of the device access configurationcommunications discussed above as being transmitted as part of theremote device access configuration operations 700, which one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will appreciate may beutilized in order to allow access by the central processing subsystem310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to network-attached device(s) 208that will be utilized by the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. However, similarly as discussed above,the management system 206 may communicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400in the computing system 202 b to configure allow remote access to itsdevice(s) for the computing system 202 a, and may then communicate withthe SCP subsystem 204/400 in the computing system 202 a to configure itto remotely access those device(s) on the computing system 202 b. Assuch, one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosurewill appreciate that the device access configurations may be performedin a variety of manners that will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

However, in other embodiments of block 504, the BMC subsystem 306/400 inthe computing system 202 a/300 may operate to configure the computingsystem 202 a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 access to one or more devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300. For example, with reference to FIG. 8A, atblock 504 the device access control manager engine 404 in the BMCsubsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may perform “local”device access configuration operations 800 that may include generatingand transmitting device access configuration communications via thecomponent connections 408 a in the communication system 408. As will beappreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure, the device access control manager engine 404 in the BMCsubsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may perform avariety of “local” access configuration operations to configure thecomputing system 202 a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem310 in the computing system 202 a/300 access to one or more devices inthe computing system 202 a/300, a few specific examples of which areillustrated and discussed below.

For example, with reference to FIG. 8B, the BMC subsystem 306/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device access configurationcommunications to the device access controller subsystem 308 as part ofthe local device access configuration operations 800, and those deviceaccess configuration communications may identify configurationinformation for communication technologies such a fabric switches (e.g.,PCIe configuration information for PCIe switches) via a PCIe bus, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB), a System Management Bus (SMBUS), anInter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a serial port, an Ethernet port,and/or other communication techniques known in the art. Furthermore, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate that device access configuration communications may includeany other commands, instructions, or other communications forconfiguring a fabric switch device or other device access controllersubsystem to provide the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 access to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIedevice(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, and/or network-attached device(s)208 (i.e., via the SCP subsystem 304) that will be utilized by thecentral processing subsystem 310 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502.

In another example, with reference to FIG. 8C, the BMC subsystem 306/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the central processing subsystem 310 viathe device access controller subsystem 308 as part of the device accessconfiguration operations 800, and those device access configurationcommunications may include Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)configuration communications (e.g., by enabling/disabling BIOSconfiguration settings that control device access via direct writes to aBIOS configuration memory subsystem), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuring acentral processing subsystem to access to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIedevice(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, and/or network-attached device(s)208 (i.e., via the SCP subsystem 304) that will be utilized by thecentral processing subsystem 310 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. As such, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that BIOSconfigurations may be performed during boot operations for the computingsystem 202 a/300 to enable access by the central processing subsystem310 to one or more devices in the computing system 202 a/300 for use inproviding the first application(s) and, in some examples, BIOSconfigurations may be performed to disable access by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 to those devices in the computing system 202a/300 (i.e., when those devices are not needed in providing the firstapplication(s)).

In another example, with reference to FIG. 8D, the BMC subsystem 306/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s)312 a, and/or other device(s) 316 via the device access controllersubsystem 308 as part of the device access configuration operations 800,and those device access configuration communications may include deviceconfiguration communications (e.g., Self-Encrypting Drive (SED)lock/unlock communications to prevent/allow access to a storage device),and/or any other commands, instructions, or other communications thatone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure wouldrecognize as configuring a device to allow access by the centralprocessing subsystem to the I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a,and/or other device(s) 316 that will be utilized by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. As will be appreciated by one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure, while the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 is described as being used to transmitthe device access configuration communications to the I/O device(s) 312,PCIe device(s) 312 a, other device(s) 316, other communication paths(e.g., SMBUS, 120, etc.) may be utilized to do so while remaining withinthe scope of the present disclosure as well. As such, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize thatdevice configurations may be performed to unlock devices and enableaccess by the central processing subsystem 310 to those devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300 for use in providing the first application(s)and, in some examples, device configurations may be performed to lockdevices and disable access by the central processing subsystem 310 tothose devices in the computing system 202 a/300 (i.e., when thosedevices are not needed in providing the first application(s)).

In another example, with reference to FIG. 8E, the BMC subsystem 306/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications to the component(s) 314 via the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 as part of the device accessconfiguration operations 800, and those device access configurationcommunications may include component configuration communications (e.g.,Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) lock or unlock communicates to allow ordisable access to a storage device), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuring acomponent to allow access by the central processing subsystem to thecomponent(s) 314 that will be utilized by the central processingsubsystem 310 in providing the first application(s) identified atdecision block 502.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure, the device access configuration operations 800between the device access controller subsystem 308 and the component(s)314 may be performed without the central processing subsystem 310running or otherwise participating in the transmission, and thus mayutilize the SMBUS communication channels, I2C communication channels,and/or other signaling paths that are available between the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308 and the component(s) 314. As such, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that component configurations may be performed to unlockcomponents and enable access by the central processing subsystem 310 tothose component in the computing system 202 a/300 for use in providingthe first application(s) and, in some examples, component configurationsmay be performed to lock components and disable access by the centralprocessing subsystem 310 to those components in the computing system 202a/300 (i.e., when those components are not needed in providing the firstapplication(s)).

However, while several specific “local” device access configurationoperations 800 have been described to configure the computing system 202a/300 to provide the central processing subsystem 310 in the computingsystem 202 a/300 access to one or more devices in the computing system202 a/300, other local device access configuration operations will fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure as well. For example, the BMCsubsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit thedevice access configuration communications to a power subsystem (notillustrated) in the computing system 202 a/300 as part of the deviceaccess configuration operations 800, and those device accessconfiguration communications may include power configurationcommunications (e.g., power control configurations to enable power todevices in the computing system 202 a/300), and/or any other commands,instructions, or other communications that one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure would recognize as configuringpower to a device to allow access by the central processing subsystem tothe I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a, component(s) 314, and/orother device(s) 316 that will be utilized by the central processingsubsystem 310 in providing the first application(s) identified atdecision block 502.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure, some computing systems may include separate powercontrols for individual device/components slots in that computing system(e.g., power control circuitry in a motherboard), and those separatepower controls may be utilized to power/prevent power to anydevice/component in the computing system. Furthermore, so storagedevices (e.g., SATA storage devices, SAS storage devices, NVMe storagedevices, etc.) may include “power disable” controls (e.g., power disablepins on their connectors) that may be utilized to power/prevent power toany device/component in the computing system. As such, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize thatpower configurations may be performed to enable power to devices andthus enable access by the central processing subsystem 310 to thosedevices in the computing system 202 a/300 for use in providing the firstapplication(s) and, in some examples, power configurations may beperformed to disable power to devices and thus disable access by thecentral processing subsystem 310 to those devices in the computingsystem 202 a/300 (i.e., when those devices are not needed in providingthe first application(s)).

In some embodiments, with reference to FIG. 8F, at block 504 the deviceaccess control manager engine 404 in the BMC subsystem 306/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may perform “remote” device accessconfiguration operations 802 that may include generating andtransmitting device access configuration communications via the NICdevice 408 a in the communication system 408. As will be appreciated byone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure, thedevice access control manager engine 404 in the BMC subsystem 306/400 inthe computing system 202 a/300 may perform a variety of accessconfiguration operations to configure access for the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to one or more devicesvia the network 204, a few specific examples of which are illustratedand discussed below.

For example, with reference to FIG. 8G, the BMC subsystem 306/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device access configurationcommunications via the network 204 and to the computing system 202 b aspart of the remote device access configuration operations 802, and thosedevice access configuration communications may include any of the deviceaccess configuration communications discussed above as being transmittedas part of the remote device access configuration operations 800, whichone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate may be utilized by the SCP subsystem 304 and/or the BMCsubsystem 306 in the computing system 202 b in order to allow access bythe central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300to components/devices in the computing system 202 b that will beutilized by the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system202 a/300 in providing the first application(s) identified at decisionblock 502. However, in other embodiments, the management system 206 maycommunicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400 in the computing system 202 bto configure allow remote access to its device(s) for the computingsystem 202 a, and may then communicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400 inthe computing system 202 a to configure it to remotely access thosedevice(s) on the computing system 202 b. As such, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will appreciate that thedevice access configurations may be performed in a variety of mannersthat will fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Thus, the BMC subsystem 306 in the computing system 202 a/300 and theSCP/BMC subsystem in the computing system 202 b/300 may communicate toenable access for the central processing subsystem 310 in the computingsystem 202 a/300 to the devices in the computing system 202 b via theSCP/BMC subsystem 400 and the device access control subsystem 308 in thecomputing system 202 b/300. The inventors of the present disclosuredescribe the use of such inter-computing system device accessconfiguration techniques to provide expanded availability computingsystems in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, attorney docket no.16356.2218US01, filed on ______, the disclosure of which is incorporateby reference herein in its entirety. Furthermore, while not explicitlyillustrated or described, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will appreciate that access by the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to devices in thecomputing system 202 c may be allowed in a similar manner as describedabove for the computing system 202 b while remaining within the scope ofthe present disclosure as well.

In another example, with reference to FIG. 8H, the BMC subsystem 306/400in the computing system 202 a/300 may transmit the device accessconfiguration communications via the network 204 and to thenetwork-attached device(s) 208 as part of the remote device accessconfiguration operations 802, and those device access configurationcommunications may include any of the device access configurationcommunications discussed above as being transmitted as part of theremote device access configuration operations 800, which one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will appreciate may beutilized in order to allow access by the central processing subsystem310 in the computing system 202 a/300 to network-attached device(s) 208that will be utilized by the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 in providing the first application(s)identified at decision block 502. However, similarly as discussed above,the management system 206 may communicate with the SCP subsystem 204/400in the computing system 202 b to configure allow remote access to itsdevice(s) for the computing system 202 a, and may then communicate withthe SCP subsystem 204/400 in the computing system 202 a to configure itto remotely access those device(s) on the computing system 202 b. Assuch, one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosurewill appreciate that the device access configurations may be performedin a variety of manners that will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Thus, at block 504, a variety of configuration operations may beperformed by the SCP subsystem 304 and/or the BMC subsystem 306 toprovide the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202a/300 access to a first subset of devices in the computing system 202a/300 (and/or devices connected to the computing system 202 a/300 viathe network 204) that will be utilized by the central processingsubsystem 310 in providing the first application(s). As such, access forthe central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300to devices in the computing system 202 a/300 that are directly connectedto the central processing subsystem 310 may be provided via BIOSconfigurations for the central processing subsystem 310 in the computingsystem 202 a/300, power configurations (e.g., enabling power) associatedwith those devices, device configurations (e.g., unlocking) associatedwith those devices, and/or other access configurations that would beapparent to one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure.

Similarly, access for the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 to devices in the computing system 202 a/300that are connected to the central processing subsystem 310 via thedevice access control subsystem 308 may be provided via BIOSconfigurations for the central processing subsystem 310 in the computingsystem 202 a/300, power configurations (e.g., enabling power) associatedwith those devices, device configurations (e.g., unlocking) associatedwith those devices, device access controller configurations (e.g.,fabric switch configurations) for the device access controller subsystem308, and/or other access configurations that would be apparent to one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. Similarly,access for the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system202 a/300 to devices that are connected to the computing system 202a/300 via the network 204 may be provided via device configurations(e.g., unlocking) associated with those devices, device accesscontroller configurations (e.g., fabric switch configurations) for thedevice access controller subsystem 308, and/or other accessconfigurations that would be apparent to one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure.

The method 500 then proceeds to block 506 where the central processingsubsystem in the first computing system provides the one or more firstapplications using the one or more devices in the first computingsubsystem. With reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B, in an embodiment of block506, the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202a/300 may perform application provisioning operations 900 that mayinclude, for example, exchanging first application controlcommunications with any devices for which it was provided access inorder to provide the first application(s). As such (and as indicated bythe dashed/bolded arrows in FIGS. 9A and 9B), the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 may provide the firstapplication(s) at block 506 by exchanging first application controlcommunications with any of the component(s) 314 to which it was providedaccess; with any of the I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a, and/orother device(s) 316 to which is was provided access via the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308; with any of the devices in the secondcomputing system 202 b to which is was provided access via the deviceaccess controller subsystem 308, SCP subsystem 304, and the network 204;and with any of the network attached device(s) 208 to which is wasprovided access via the device access controller subsystem 308, SCPsubsystem 304, and the network 204.

The method 500 then proceeds to decision block 508 where it isdetermined whether one or more additional applications have beenidentified for provisioning by another computing system. In anembodiment, at decision block 508, the device access control managerengine 404 in either or both of the SCP subsystem 304/400 and/or BMCsubsystem 306/400 in the computing system 202 a/300 may operate todetermine whether additional application(s) have been identified forprovisioning by the computing system 202 a/300. For example, at decisionblock 508, the device access control manager engine 404 in either orboth of the SCP subsystem 304/400 and/or BMC subsystem 306/400 in thecomputing system 202 a/300 may operate to determine whether themanagement system 206 has identified additional application(s) forprovisioning by the computing system 202 a/300, although one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize thatapplication(s) for provisioning by a computing system may be identifiedin a variety of manners that will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well.

Similarly as discussed above for decision block 502, in some examples,the identification of additional application(s) for provisioning by thecomputing system 202 a/300 at decision block 508 may be performed priorto or during a computing system initialization process (e.g., a bootprocess) for the computing system 202 a/300, while in other examples theidentification of application(s) for provisioning by the computingsystem 202 a/300 at block 508 may be performed during runtime of thecomputing system 202 a/300. As such, the identification of the firstapplication(s) at decision block 502 and the identification of theadditional applications at decision block 508 may occur at the sametime, or at different times, while remaining within the scope of thepresent disclosure. If, at decision block 508, it is determined that oneor more first applications have not been identified for provisioning bythe first computing system, the method 500 returns to decision block506. As such, the method 500 may loop such that the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 a/300 provides the firstapplication(s) as long as no additional application(s) are identifiedfor provisioning by the computing system 202 a/300.

If, at decision block 508, it is determined that one or more additionalapplications have been identified for provisioning by another computingsystem, the method 500 proceeds to block 510 where the device accesscontrol manager subsystem configures the first computing system toprovide the other computing system access to one or more devices in thefirst computing system. In an embodiment, at decision block 508, themanagement system 206, the SCP subsystem 304, and/or the BMC subsystem306 may operate in substantially the same manner as discussed above withreference to FIGS. 6A-6F to identify the additional application(s) forprovisioning by the computing system 202 b in the examples below.Furthermore, in some embodiments of block 510, the SCP subsystem 304 mayoperate in substantially the same manner as discussed above withreference to FIGS. 7A-7H to configured the computing system 202 a/300 toallow the computing system 202 b access to devices in the computingsystem 202 a/300, while in other embodiments of block 510 the BMCsubsystem 306 may operate in substantially the same manner as discussedabove with reference to FIGS. 8A-8H to configured the computing system202 a/300 to allow the computing system 202 b access to devices in thecomputing system 202 a/300.

Thus, at block 510, a variety of configuration operations may beperformed by the SCP subsystem 304 and or the BMC subsystem 306 toprovide the computing system 202 b (e.g., the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 b/300) access to a secondsubset of devices in the computing system 202 a/300 that will beutilized by the computing system 202 b in providing secondapplication(s). As such, access for the central processing subsystem 310in the computing system 202 b/300 to devices in the computing system 202a/300 that are connected to the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 b/300 via the network 204, the SCP subsystem 304 inthe computing subsystem 202 a/300, and the device access controlsubsystem 308 in the computing system 202 a/300, may be provided viaBIOS configurations for the central processing subsystem 310 in thecomputing system 202 b/300, power configurations (e.g., enabling power)associated with those devices, device configurations (e.g., unlocking)associated with those devices, device access controller configurations(e.g., fabric switch configurations) for the device access controllersubsystem 308 in each of the computing systems 202 a/300 and 202 b/300,and/or other access configurations that would be apparent to one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. For example,the inventors of the present disclosure describe the use of suchinter-computing system device access configuration techniques to provideexpanded availability computing systems in U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______, attorney docket no. 16356.2218US01, filed on ______, thedisclosure of which is incorporate by reference herein in its entirety.

The method 500 then proceeds to block 512 where the other computingsystem provides the one or more additional applications using the one ormore devices in the first computing subsystem. With reference to FIGS.10A and 10B, in an embodiment of block 512, the central processingsubsystem 310 in the computing system 202 b/300 may perform applicationprovisioning operations 1000 that may include, for example, exchangingsecond application control communications with any devices for which itwas provided access in order to provide the second application(s). Assuch (and as indicated by the dashed/bolded arrows in FIGS. 10A and10B), the central processing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202b/300 may provide the second application(s) at block 506 by exchangingfirst application control communications via the network 204, the SCPsubsystem 304 in the computing system 202 a/300, and the device accesscontroller subsystem 308 in the computing system 202 a/300 with any ofthe I/O device(s) 312, PCIe device(s) 312 a, and/or other device(s) 316in the computing system 202 a/300 to which is was provided access; andwith any of the network attached device(s) 208 to which is was providedaccess via the network 204. Further still, on one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will appreciate that the centralprocessing subsystem 310 in the computing system 202 b/300 may beconfigured to access other devices (e.g., in the computing system 202 b,in the computing system 202 c, etc.) to provide the secondapplication(s) while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well.

The method 500 then returns to decision block 508. As such, the method500 may loop such that devices in the computing system 202 a areutilized to provide application(s) by the central processing subsystem310 in the computing system 202 a/300, as well as other computingsystems (e.g., the computing system 202 b in the example above), withthe method 500 configured to provide access for other computing systemsto devices in the computing system 202 a in order to provide otherapplications as well. While not explicitly illustrated or described, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate how the method 500 may also provide for the completion of theperformance of applications by the central processing subsystem 310 inthe computing system 202 a/300 as well as other computing systems (e.g.,the computing system 202 b in the example above), along with thedisabling of access to the devices in the computing system 202 a thatwere being used to provide those applications, in order to allow thosedevices to be allocated for use in providing yet other applications.

While specific examples are provided above, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize how a variety ofaccess/allocation operations may be performed to enable the provisioningof applications by a central processing subsystem. For example, a firstcentral processing subsystem in a first computing system may be providedaccess to a first subset of first devices in the first computing system(e.g., a first Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)) and second devices in asecond computing system (e.g., second GPUs available via a first SCP inthe first computing system) in order to provide first application(s).Furthermore, access to devices in the first computing system and/or thesecond computing system may be disabled (e.g., via power control, devicelocking, etc.) to prevent a first central processing subsystem in afirst computing system from accessing sensitive information stored onthose devices, preventing “confusion” of the first central processingsubsystem, and/or for a variety of other reasons that would be apparentto one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.Thus, devices may be allocated to a first central processing subsystemin a first computing system during boot operations for the firstcomputing system and according to an first application image for thefirst application(s) in order to allow the first central processingsubsystem to provide for optimal provisioning of the firstapplication(s), or during runtime for the first computing system inorder to allow access to devices in the first computing system that werenot available during those boot operations (e.g., which may look like aPCIe hot plug of a PCIe device to the first central processing subsystemin the first computing system). As will be appreciated by one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure, theallocation/access of devices for the provisioning of application(s) maybe performed based on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in order toprovide for provisioning of those application(s) based on service levelspaid for by a customer.

Thus, systems and methods have been described that provide for thedynamic configuration of device access within a server in order to, forexample, provide local access for a central processing subsystem in thatserver to those devices, as well as remote access for a centralprocessing system in another server to those devices. For example, thedevice access control system of the present disclosure may include afirst server that is coupled to a second server via a network, and thatincludes a fabric switch coupled to devices, a central processingsubsystem, and an SCP subsystem. The SCP subsystem identifies firstapplication(s) configured for provisioning by the central processingsubsystem and second application(s) configured for provisioning by thesecond server, configures the fabric switch to provide the centralprocessing subsystem access to a first subset of the devices to allowthe central processing subsystem to provide the first application(s),and configures the fabric switch to provide the second server access viathe SCP subsystem to a second subset of the devices to allow the secondserver to provide the second application(s) using the second subset ofthe devices. Thus, devices in a server may be configured for the localand remote use in a manner that provide a more efficient use of thosedevices and/or more optimal provisioning of applications thanconventional composable systems.

Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described, a widerange of modification, change and substitution is contemplated in theforegoing disclosure and in some instances, some features of theembodiments may be employed without a corresponding use of otherfeatures. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims beconstrued broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of theembodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device access control system, comprising: asecond computing system; and a first computing system that is coupled tothe second computing system via a network, wherein the first computingsystem includes: a device access controller subsystem; a plurality offirst devices that are coupled to the device access controllersubsystem; a central processing subsystem that is coupled to the deviceaccess controller subsystem; and a device access control managersubsystem that is coupled to the device access controller subsystem,wherein the device access control manager subsystem is configured to:identify at least one first application that is configured to beprovided by the central processing subsystem, and at least one secondapplication that is configured to be provided by the second computingsystem; configure the device access controller subsystem to provide thecentral processing subsystem access to a first subset of the pluralityof first devices in order to allow the central processing subsystem toprovide the at least one first application; configure the device accesscontroller subsystem to provide the second computing system access viathe device access control manager subsystem to a second subset of theplurality of first devices; and transmit second application controlcommunications received from the second computing system to the secondsubset of the plurality of first devices via the device accesscontroller subsystem in order to allow the second computing device toprovide the at least one second application using the second subset ofthe plurality of first devices via the device access controllersubsystem.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the device accesscontroller subsystem includes a fabric switch device.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the device access control manager subsystem includes atleast one of a System Control Processor (SCP) subsystem and a BaseboardManagement (BMC) subsystem.
 4. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a second device that is directly connected to the centralprocessing subsystem, wherein the device access control managersubsystem is configured to: configure access for the central processingsubsystem to the second device in order to allow the central processingsubsystem to provide the at least one first application by at least oneof: configuring a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to allow access forthe central processing subsystem to the second device; configuring powerto the second device to allow access for the central processingsubsystem to the second device; or configuring the second device toallow access for the central processing subsystem to the second device.5. The system of claim 1, wherein the device access control managersubsystem is configured to: configure access for the central processingsubsystem to a third subset of the plurality of first devices in orderto allow the central processing subsystem to provide the at least onefirst application by at least one of: configuring a Basic Input/OutputSystem (BIOS) to allow access for the central processing subsystem tothe third subset of the plurality of first devices; configuring power tothe third subset of the plurality of first devices to allow access forthe central processing subsystem to the third subset of the plurality offirst devices; or configuring the third subset of the plurality of firstdevices to allow access for the central processing subsystem to thethird subset of the plurality of first devices.
 6. The system of claim1, wherein the device access control manager subsystem is configured to:configure access for the second computing system to a third subset ofthe plurality of first devices in order to allow the central processingsubsystem to provide the at least one first application by at least oneof: configuring the third subset of the plurality of first devices toallow access for the second computing system to the third subset of theplurality of first devices.
 7. An Information Handling System (IHS),comprising: a secondary processing subsystem; and a secondary memorysubsystem that is coupled to the secondary processing subsystem and thatincludes instructions that, when executed by the secondary processingsubsystem, cause the secondary processing subsystem to provide a deviceaccess control manager engine that is configured to: identify at leastone first application that is configured to be provided by a centralprocessing subsystem that is included in a first computing system withthe IHS, and at least one second application that is configured to beprovided by a second computing system that is coupled to the firstcomputing system via a network; configure a device access controllersubsystem in the first computing system to provide the centralprocessing subsystem access to a first subset of a plurality of firstdevices in the first computing system in order to allow the centralprocessing subsystem to provide the at least one first application;configure the device access controller subsystem to provide the secondcomputing system access via the device access control manager subsystemto a second subset of the plurality of first devices; and transmitsecond application control communications received from the secondcomputing system to the second subset of the plurality of first devicesvia the device access controller subsystem in order to allow the secondcomputing device to provide the at least one second application usingthe second subset of the plurality of first devices via the deviceaccess controller subsystem.
 8. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the deviceaccess controller subsystem includes a fabric switch device.
 9. The IHSof claim 7, wherein the IHS includes at least one of a System ControlProcessor (SCP) subsystem and a Baseboard Management (BMC) subsystem.10. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the device access control manager engineis configured to: configure access for the central processing subsystemto a second device in the first computing system that is directlyconnected to the central processing system in order to allow the centralprocessing subsystem to provide the at least one first application by atleast one of: configuring a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to allowaccess for the central processing subsystem to the second device;configuring power to the second device to allow access for the centralprocessing subsystem to the second device; or configuring the seconddevice to allow access for the central processing subsystem to thesecond device.
 11. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the device access controlmanager engine is configured to: configure access for the centralprocessing subsystem to a third subset of the plurality of first devicesin order to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the atleast one first application by at least one of: configuring a BasicInput/Output System (BIOS) to allow access for the central processingsubsystem to the third subset of the plurality of first devices;configuring power to the third subset of the plurality of first devicesto allow access for the central processing subsystem to the third subsetof the plurality of first devices; or configuring the third subset ofthe plurality of first devices to allow access for the centralprocessing subsystem to the third subset of the plurality of firstdevices.
 12. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the device access controlmanager engine is configured to: configure access for the secondcomputing system to a third subset of the plurality of first devices inorder to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the at leastone first application by: configuring the third subset of the pluralityof first devices to allow access for the second computing system to thethird subset of the plurality of first devices.
 13. The IHS of claim 7,wherein the configuring the device access controller subsystem toprovide the central processing subsystem access to the first subset of aplurality of first devices and to provide the second computing systemaccess via the device access control manager subsystem to the secondsubset of the plurality of first devices is performed either prior to aninitialization of the first computing system, or during runtime for thefirst computing system.
 14. A method for providing device accesscontrol, comprising: identifying, by a device access control managersubsystem, at least one first application that is configured to beprovided by a central processing subsystem that is included in a firstcomputing system with the device access control manager subsystem, andat least one second application that is configured to be provided by asecond computing system that is coupled to the first computing systemvia a network; configuring, by the device access control managersubsystem, a device access controller subsystem in the first computingsystem to provide the central processing subsystem access to a firstsubset of a plurality of first devices in the first computing system inorder to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the at leastone first application; configuring, by the device access control managersubsystem, the device access controller subsystem to provide the secondcomputing system access via the device access control manager subsystemto a second subset of the plurality of first devices; and transmitting,by the device access control manager subsystem, second applicationcontrol communications received from the second computing system to thesecond subset of the plurality of first devices via the device accesscontroller subsystem in order to allow the second computing device toprovide the at least one second application using the second subset ofthe plurality of first devices via the device access controllersubsystem.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the device accesscontroller subsystem includes a fabric switch device.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the device access control manager subsystem includesat least one of a System Control Processor (SCP) subsystem and aBaseboard Management (BMC) subsystem.
 17. The method of claim 14,further comprising: configuring, by the device access control managersubsystem, access for the central processing subsystem to a seconddevice in the first computing system that is directly connected to thecentral processing system in order to allow the central processingsubsystem to provide the at least one first application by at least oneof: configuring a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to allow access forthe central processing subsystem to the second device; configuring powerto the second device to allow access for the central processingsubsystem to the second device; or configuring the second device toallow access for the central processing subsystem to the second device.18. The method of claim 14, further comprising: configuring, by thedevice access control manager subsystem, access for the centralprocessing subsystem to a third subset of the plurality of first devicesin order to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the atleast one first application by at least one of: configuring a BasicInput/Output System (BIOS) to allow access for the central processingsubsystem to the third subset of the plurality of first devices;configuring power to the third subset of the plurality of first devicesto allow access for the central processing subsystem to the third subsetof the plurality of first devices; or configuring the third subset ofthe plurality of first devices to allow access for the centralprocessing subsystem to the third subset of the plurality of firstdevice.
 19. The method of claim 14, further comprising: configuring, bythe device access control manager subsystem, access for the secondcomputing system to a third subset of the plurality of first devices inorder to allow the central processing subsystem to provide the at leastone first application by: configuring the third subset of the pluralityof first devices to allow access for the second computing system to thethird subset of the plurality of first devices.
 20. The method of claim14, wherein the configuring the device access controller subsystem toprovide the central processing subsystem access to the first subset of aplurality of first devices and to provide the second computing systemaccess via the device access control manager subsystem to the secondsubset of the plurality of first devices is performed either prior to aninitialization of the first computing system, or during runtime for thefirst computing system.